New Zealanders celebrate ‘Waitangi Day’

New Zealand, by its geographical location and population mix, is part of the Asia/Pacific region. As neighbors in the broader Asia/Pacific region, New Zealand and Taiwan have much in common, including the substantial communities of aborigines and students with experience of life and connections straddling both places.

These active people-to-people connections contribute strongly to the constant tourism and education flows between New Zealand and Taiwan. Over recent years, the number of Taiwanese visiting New Zealand has been around 30,000 per year, with young travelers and those pursuing more extended, independent itineraries growing. A working holiday scheme for young travelers (18-30 years old) introduced in 2004 has proved very popular, with strong demand for places under the scheme. Similarly, study in New Zealand—both short-term English language study and longer term (secondary or tertiary) study—remains attractive, with around 3,000 Taiwanese visiting New Zealand for study each year.

Our economic and trade connection is also a vibrant one, with two-way trade reaching NZ$1.6 billion in 2007. Of this, New Zealand exports to Taiwan totaled NZ$795 million (New Zealand’s seventh largest export destination) and New Zealand imports from Taiwan totaled NZ$834 million (New Zealand’s 12th largest source of imports).

But we are not resting on our laurels. In the past year, arrangements have been put in place to open up trade opportunities in the areas of tropical fruit from Taiwan (fresh lychees) and vegetables (sweet potato) from New Zealand. The complementarity of our growing seasons means this kind of trade can work to mutual advantage.

1|2|Next Page>>

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email